Here are the three best back exercises to do at home. The Sundial chiropractors and physio’s here in Brighton, have 4 decades of experience treating back pain successfully and have found that these simple exercises, that only take a few minutes a day, really help a bad back. Start with the easy ones and gradually build up doing the exercises for longer and longer. If you experience any pain beyond a mild discomfort then stop and go back to an easier exercise. If pain persists then seek help from a healthcare professional.
One of the easiest ways to treat back pain yourself is to do more exercise. But you have to do the right type of exercises. Do the wrong ones and you could make the pain a lot worse!
So what are the wrong sort of exercises for a bad back? Deadlifts, sit-ups (if done wrong) and touching your toes are common culprits. More about that here.
Fortunately, there is a series of simple, safe and effective exercises that can make a big difference if you have chronic back pain.
Our go-to exercises for back pain are:
- Side Plank
- Modified Sit-up
- Bird Dog (sometimes called the Superman)
- Dead Bug (extra bonus!)
These exercises target the abdominal core muscles as well as the back muscles to provide strength and stability to most back problems.
As with all new exercises, start gently and gradually build up. If you go at it too hard to start with you can irritate already sore muscles and joints and you will get fed up with these wonderful back exercises very quickly. As a guide, if pain or discomfort on doing the exercise is above a four out of ten – stop – go back to an easier version.
What makes an exercise harder?
Obviously doing more repetitions makes the muscles work harder. So start with five reps.
Doing theses back exercises slowly is often harder as the core muscle have to balance your body for a longer time. Also making your body more unstable increases the impact on the core muscles. You can see this in the two versions of the Bird Dog exercise. The easy one moves one arm or leg at a time but the harder one moves an opposite arm and leg together whilst your weight is supported at just two points. People with chronic back pain often find this exercise quite difficult. If that is you, do the easy one first until you are more confident.
Increasing the load or weight lifted increases the work but these exercises are with your own bodyweight so that is not really an issue.
Give these exercises a go but if you are experiencing consistent pain and live or work in Brighton then come in to see us by booking online above or give us a call for a consultation. It’s free. We solve back pain with a tried and tested three-step process:
1 Consultation 2 Diagnosis 3 Treatment
Back pain is a global menace. It is the biggest cause of disability worldwide; it affects whole economies, individuals’ health and makes lives a misery. Back pain contributes to obesity, diabetes, osteoarthritis and mental health issues as those with back pain cannot exercise as much as they would wish. The 2020s should see major advances in back care.
Once a thing of science fiction, man-made discs are looking like a reality. As we get older the discs of the spine wear and although this is mostly painless, in some people it can cause extensive osteoarthritis, nerve or spinal cord entrapment and pain. Not nice!
If you go to a doctor with a pain in your back, if you don’t have any serious disease or injury, you are most likely to be told that you have non-specific back pain. What this means is that they don’t know which bit of you back is causing the pain and are just going to treat the pain, not the cause. This is a non-diagnosis.
Deadlifts, touching toes and leg press exercises are amongst the drills that will be recognised by the fitness industry as contributing to back pain and will be phased out. Currently, there is a mismatch between most, but not all, spine care experts and gym and yoga instructors. As more up to date research makes its way to the courses for these professions practise will change and fewer back injuries will result.
Back pain recurs when the stresses and strains on your back overcome your body’s ability to deal with them. Daily activities like bending, lifting and long periods of sitting with poor posture can put a strain on the spine which it can normally cope with very well. Unfortunately, if there is an underlying issue which reduces your ability to manage these forces then the back muscles, joints or discs can get irritated and start to hurt.
It’s recommended that we take 10,000 steps a day. However, a recent study conducted at Stanford University found that the global average for steps taken per day is 4,961. Though the UK’s average is above this stat, it’s a far cry from the suggested amount.
Back pain often comes on apparently without reason. In fact, one possible cause might stretch all the way back to childhood. Hove dentist, Pieter Grobbelaar, tell us how teeth and jaw problems can be behind chronic pain.
Back pain is surrounded by myths which often cloud simple facts. People with back pain are often told is that “it is just wear-and-tear and you’ll have to put up with it” or “it’s probably arthritis. What do you expect at your age”. This is not very helpful and often is plain wrong.
Back pain is not one condition but several conditions causing similar symptoms. A muscle spasm, disc derangement and a spinal joint dysfunction all cause low back problems that can refer pain down to the buttock and leg and a skilled chiropractor or physio can tell which problem it is likely to be. Whilst several conditions can co-exist an accurate diagnosis is important because the treatment is different for all three.
The sun is shining; it’s warmed up; time to take your clothes off!